


Rogue

by PistachioMuffin



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Self-Acceptance, Self-Esteem Issues, Shyness, Social Anxiety, Social Isolation, trama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4518372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PistachioMuffin/pseuds/PistachioMuffin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Crystal Gems catch wind of Peridot's whereabouts in an unusual area. Unfortunately for the gems, Lion has gone on one of his own little adventures and there aren't any known warp pads in the area leaving them with no other choice than to hitch a ride with Greg and set up a base camp. However, instead of finding Peridot they find a rather unusual girl that might be able to help them in their search.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. S'more Buddies

“Daaad how much longer till we’re there…” Steven groaned.

“Yah, how long s’ going to be,” Amethyst backed up.

“Where getting there guys, we should be there in about…twenty minutes…I think,” Greg replied nervously.

“But Greg, it says right here on the map we’re at least another hour out,” Pearl corrected.

Both Steven and Amethyst groaned in unison, “man I’m starving let’s stop and get something to eat.”

“Amethyst that’ll only make this drive longer, besides you just ate half an hour ago…,” Pearl nagged.

“Ughhh, fine. Just wake me up when we get there,” Amethyst huffed before flopping back on pile of luggage. Snoring could be heard only seconds later.

“Steven maybe you should take a nap too,” Pearl suggested, “it’ll make the trip seem shorter and you’ll be ready to go when we get there.”

“Yah, I guess you’re right Pearl,” Steven agreed.

Pearl smiled that one particular smile she dawned when she was right and turn back towards the front.

“Nice save,” Greg complimented.

Pearl nodded and went back to looking at the map.

Awhile passed before any of them resumed conversation. “How come you guys aren’t using Lion?” Greg asked tentatively.

“Lion went on one of his little…excursions… and none of us know where he went off to,” Pearl sighed, “not even Steven.”

“What about warping?” Greg asked.

“There’s no warp pad,” Pearl explain, “which is odd since Peridot usually sticks pretty close to them.”

Greg nodded slowly, “well, from what I’ve heard at least, this forest we’re heading to is pretty big and it has a lot of weird stories floating around about it.”

Pearl looked towards Greg, “What do you mean?”

“Oh well,” Greg paused a minute to think, “It’s supposed to cursed.”

“Cursed…?” Pearl restated doubtfully.

“Well yah,” Greg continued, “An old friend of mine used to live right next to it. Rumor has it that an evil spirit lives somewhere deep the forest that can control the trees and anyone who meets her is never seen or heard from again.”

“Hmm,” Pearl nodded, “while it’s most likely just an indicate story concocted by humans to explain some sort of natural phenomena that they didn’t understand…it may have something to do with why Peridot choosing to take shelter there.”

“You think the forest being cursed has something to do with gems?” Greg asked.

“Possibly,” Pearl nodded.

“Mmm…,” Greg hummed nervously.

* * *

 

Garnet pounced off the top of Greg’s van with two large packs of camping supplies perched under each of her arms.

“Over here Garnet,” Steven called; he had picked the perfect spot to set up camp.

“Are you guys sure you want me to head back?” Greg asked Pearl worriedly. “I mean, I know I’m not a lot of help when it comes to gem stuff but how are you guys going to get back if I leave?”

“We’ll call you or if Lion shows back up you can send him,” Pearl explained.

“Steven is also very concerned about your safety,” Garnet added as she passed by with another handful of camping supplies.

Greg bit his bottom lip; there was no winning this argument. “Ok… but… if anything goes wrong make sure to call me, alright?” Greg urged.

Pearl nodded, “of course.”

Feeling at least a little bit better Greg hugged Steven and gave him the usual “be safe, call me if something happens, I love you” spiel before reluctantly heading back towards Beach City.

“Well now what,” Amethyst asked blankly.

“We look for signs of Peridot,” Garnet stated.

“But since it’s getting a little late I suggest we only search the area around camp for now,” Pearl suggested.

Garnet nodded her approval, “Amethyst, you go south; Pearl, you’ll search west and I’ll go north.”

“What about me,” Steven cried.

“You’ll stay here and guard the camp,” Garnet responded sternly.

“Aww, come on I can help too,” Steven begged.

Garnet knelt down in front of Steven and put a hand on his shoulder, “Steven, this is a very important job that I am giving you, we’re trusting you to protect all of our supplies.”

“I know but I want to help,” Steven begged.

“Dude, what if a bear steals all of our s’more supplies,” Amethyst pointed out.

Steven gasped, “I never thought of that.”

“It’s a very high possibility if they are left unguarded,” Garnet stressed.

Steven nodded gravely, “I know what my duty is now.”

Garnet smiled, “good, we’ll be back soon.”

“If you want Steven, you can go ahead and make yourself some s’mores, just be very VERY careful” Pearl added.

“Really!” Steven shouted excitedly.

“Really dude,” Amethyst assured giving him a playful nudge with her elbow. “Just make sure you save one for me,” she winked, Steven smiled and nodded.

While Pearl and Amethyst went ahead to go search for signs of Peridot, Garnet stayed behind to start a small fire for Steven to work with (as well as warning him to keep an eye on it) before heading off.

Steven quickly located the s’mores supplies and went to work spearing a marshmallow on the end of a thin metal skewer. “I’m gonna make the best s’mores ever,” Steven announced confidently as he moved the marshmallow over the fire.

Steven started to hum a song while keeping a close eye on the color of the marshmallow. However, a strange sound pulled his attention away only moments later.

“Garnet?” Steven called out, no one replied. “Hmmm…,” Steven tightened his grip on the metal skewer and slowly stood up. Another sound, this time what seemed to be the crackling of wood and Steven could have sworn he saw that tree move.

“Hello?” Steven questioned curiously, still he got no reply. Furrowing his eyebrows he set the skewer down on top of a cooler and took a few steps towards the tree. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” Steven coaxed, “I’ve got a lion at home…well somewhere… so I’m used to big animals.” However, what came out from behind the tree wasn’t a bear like Steven had expected but a girl.     

“O-oh, hi there…,” Steven greeted slightly bewildered, “are you lost?”

The girl just shook her head just looking intently at Steven with a mixture of fascination and fear.

“Oh…do you need help?” Steven questioned.

Again the girl shook her head.

Steven wasn’t sure what to do or what to say. He gave a quick glance back towards the camp and then it hit him, it was so obvious. “Are you hungry?” Steven asked, “I’m making s’mores and I’ve got plenty to share.”

“S’mores…?” the girl repeated curiously.

“Yah, there like a candy sandwich with marshmallows and chocolate all squished between two graham crackers,” Steven explained.

The girl thought for a few seconds and took a few tentative steps back before giving in and walking over. As she got closer Steven noticed something about her appearance, half of her face including one of her eyes was covered by a long piece of fabric that had been tied around her head. Steven also took note of the unusual shades of her hair, it was auburn colored but with muted streaks of red, yellow, purple, and blue. ‘I should do my hair like that one day,’ he thought.

Falling off of his train of thought, Steven smiled and picked up his skewer, “my name’s Steven what’s your name.”

“O-oh, uh, m-my name’s Petra,” the girl replied timidly.

“Petra…,” Steven thought, “that’s a cool name.”

Petra blush at the compliment and cautiously peered around at the gem’s camp, to her it seemed like they had wildly over packed but maybe they were going to stay out here for a while?

“Here, you can have mine,” Steven held out his skewer with its slightly cooked marshmallow already making a snail crawl down the wire. Petra nodded hesitantly and took the skewer a bit flustered by the boy’s immediate hospitality. “All you got to do is hold it over to fire but make sure it doesn’t get to close or they’ll fall off,” Steven instructed.

Petra nodded again and slowly sat down in front of the fire and held the marshmallow in place just above its flames. Steven sat down adjacent to her and started to prepare another skewer with marshmallows. “Once they start to get sort of goldeny-brown you take one of those graham crackers right here,” Steven pointed to the rectangular package sitting on top of the cooler, “and place the marshmallow on top and then you put a piece of chocolate over that and then finish it off with another graham cracker and then you can pull out the skewer.”

Petra nodded dutifully, looking back at her marshmallow only to find that it had fallen off and was now sizzling sadly on a log.

“O-oh I-I’m…I didn’t…” Petra stuttered, her face completely red in embarrassment.

Steven noticed her struggling, “Oh don’t worry about it, I’ve done that a thousand times.” Steven reached into his bag of extra puffy marshmallows and held one out to her, “I’ve got plenty, give it another shot.”

Petra nodded and accepted the marshmallow, spearing it on the skewer and extra carefully holding it above the fire. Steven notice when she took the marshmallow she was wearing only one long glove on her left hand, ‘maybe she’s and archer’ he thought.

* * *

 

It took her a few tries but Petra managed to make a decent s’more, and was amazed at how good they were.

“So you’re telling me that you’ve never had one of these before?” Steven asked astonished.

Petra shook her head swallowing her mouth full of s’more, “no, I always saw campers making these but I never thought to try one.”

“Do you camp out here a lot?” Steven guessed.

“You could say that…,” Petra replied before taking another bite of her s’more.

“Hm,” Steven thought, “Say…you wouldn't have happened to see a girl out here that’s sort of tall, green, pointy hair, talks to herself a lot.”

Petra thought for a minute and then shook her head an apologetic look on her face as she still tried to swallow her s’more.

“That’s alright, were looking for her right now so if you see her around let us know,” Steven informed.

“Us?” Petra asked.

“Yah, me and the other Crystal Gems,” Steven stated proudly.

As if on que, a loud crack came from a bush on the other side of the fire, Amethyst burst out form the bush covered in leaves and dirt. “Whoa, Steven did you burn something?” she teased. It wasn’t until she laid eyes on Petra did she stop smiling, “Steven…who is that,” she questioned, her voice sounding slightly concerned.

“Oh, this is Petra, she’s my s’more buddy,” Steven smiled.

Petra sat completely still; her eyes were fixed on Amethyst. She couldn’t decide whether to run away or stay and see if she was nice like Steven.

“Where did she come from,” Amethyst asked cautiously making her way to Steven’s side.

“Oh…well she was over there by that tree,” Steven pointed to a tree behind Petra, “and I invited her to make s’mores with me.”

Amethyst nodded, a suspicious look on her face. Seconds later, Garnet and Pearl appeared from their respective directions both pausing when they saw Petra.

Petra’s face started to turn red, her heart was pounding and her hands started to shake.

“Steven who’s this,” Garnet demanded.

“Petra,” Amethyst interjected, “seems Steven made a friend already.”

“O-oh…well, that nice” Pearl gushed hesitantly, looking at the others to see if they were just as concerned as she was. The girl looked quite young, a teenager…possibly a bit older, maybe she was lost?

“Are you in need of any help?” Peal asked the girl noticing the cloth around her head, “Are you hurt?” Pearl began to approach the Petra, arm outstretched as if to touch the covered side of her face.

Petra started to back away from Pearl, scrambling to get to her feet. “W-wait Petra it’s alright they’re really nice I swear,” Steven tried to calm her down. Unfortunately, once Petra made it to her feet she was off, sprinting back the way direction she had appeared. “Petra wait it’s not safe,” Steven yelled trying to go after her but Garnet put and hand on his shoulder locking him in place.

“It’s not safe for you to go after her,” Garnet, “it’s obvious she’s scared and I don’t think us chasing after her is going to make the situation any better.”

“But what if she runs into a bear or a wolf or Peridot?” Steven stammered.

“I have a feeling she knows where she’s going,” Garnet reassured.

“You do?” Steven fretted.

“Yes, I do,” Garnet insisted tapping a finger on her shades. Steven remembered what Petra had said about camping out here a lot and decided that Garnet had a point.


	2. Peg Leg

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh Peridork

“This is Peridot reporting on organics experiment, so far I have not been able to locate its position…or my own…or anything,” the aggravated green gem recorded. For three days she had been trekking endlessly through the forest, looking for this experiment, praying that she could just take its data and leave. The cluster was easy enough for her to find, it had been exactly where it was supposed to be, but this one… This particular experiment wasn’t anywhere to be found, almost like it had gotten up and moved. Peridot was certain she had looked in the correct coordinates; she had scanned everything within a mile of the recorded location and still not a bleep on her radar.

“Of all the things to go missing it was this, Yellow Diamond is going to kill me this, was her biggest concern for this mission and I’ve somehow managed to lose it in this stupid forest!,” Peridot yelled in anger, frustrated tears welled up in the corner of her eyes.

Everything had gone wrong for her; her escort was MIA, her left foot was gone, and now she was going to fail her mission (one that was supposed to be easy) an probably lose her rank. Peridot hobbled over to a tree stump and sat down, throwing stick she had been using to walk into a bush. She refused to look at her foot, or at least where it should have been, all it did was make her angry.

“P-Peridot.”

“Gaahhh!,” Peridot yelped. She jumped up from the stump and whirled around on her good leg before falling back on her butt.

Standing behind the stump stood an equally surprised looking girl.

“Wh-who are you!,” Peridot stuttered, darting her eyes around anxiously.

“A-ah,” the girl fidgeted with her hair nervously, “you…your friends...”

“My friends? What are you talking about! Who are you?,” Peridot demanded, desperately trying to get herself standing up.

The girls eyes wandered down to Period’s unique hands and then missing foot before quickly darting back up, “P-Petra.”

“What?,” Peridot had now managed to get herself up with the help of a friendly tree.

“M-my name…its Petra,” the girl took an apprehensive step back.

“How do you know my name,” Peridot demanded.

“Y-you said it t-to your hand…,” Petra replied.

“Oh…,” a small wave of embarrassment passed over her. Peridot wasn’t sure what her next move should be, ‘What is she talking about…my friends?’ she thought. Peridot shook her head, “I don’t know what you talking about by ‘friends,’ I don’t have any on this planet.”

Petra looked a bit confused by her reply, was this not the person Steven had mentioned? Maybe it would be better to start off with something else...

“Your f-foot,” Petra pointed out, “I can help…”

Peridot stared at the girl suspiciously, what was her game?

“How…?,” Peridot questioned.

The girl blinked, not expecting her to be interested in her offer. “O-oh,” Petra looked around, “w-wait here.” Peridot watched as Petra ran off towards a dense patch of ferns.

Petra rummaged around in the leaves for a while before she found what she was looking for. Picking up a sizeable log she quickly made her way back over to Peridot.

“C-can I see your leg…” Petra asked nervously as she sat down in front of Peridot.

Peridot stared at the girl dubiously, could she really trust her? Still…thinking a about it the girl really didn’t look that threatening, she was offering to help her, and on top of that she might be able to get some information for her mission.

Steading herself against the tree, Peridot lifted her left leg up to the girl. The girl set the log down on the ground and gently placed Peridot’s leg on top of the log.

“So…Petra…I assume your quite familiar with this area?,” Peridot ventured to ask.

Petra nodded, “Mhm.” Leaning back Petra took a good look at Peridot’s other leg, taking extra care to note the details.

“I have a question then, have you seen any…odd creatures?” Peridot asked.

“Hm…?,” Petra looked up with a questioning look on her face.

“Anything that might seem out of place in this ecosystem, something with a gem like this,” Peridot pointed to her forehead, “somewhere on its body.”

Petra stared at Peridot’s gem in fascination, shaking her head slowly. “N-no I don’t think so…,” she replied, “I’m sorry.”

Peridot sighed, “Forget I asked.”

Feeling a bit like she had upset her Petra quickly turned her attention back to Peridot’s leg. Keeping Peridot’s other foot in the corner of her eye, Petra placed her hands on the log.

Slowly the log started to change shape as if it were re-growing rapidly. Small root-like tendrils wrapped their way around Peridot’s leg anchoring itself.

Amazed Peridot watched as the log started looking more and more like her old foot.

“Done,” Petra smiled shyly.

“H-how,” Peridot took her weight off the tree and took a step forward.

“I-is it ok?” Petra asked.

“It’s perfect…,” Peridot turned to Petra, “how did you do that.”

“Oh,” Petra looked at her hands, “i’m not exactly sure…I’ve just always been able to do that…”

Peridot took a step back, actually taking in Petra’s appearance. She was short (shorter than her at least) with oddly colorful hair and clothing that covered the majority of her body. The thing that caught her attention the most, however, was the cloth wrapped around her head.

“Hm…,” Peridot quickly pulled up her monitor (much to Petra’s bewilderment), “don’t move.”

Petra nodded hesitantly and watched as Peridot held the strange screen in front of her.

Peridot stared at the screen, a very pensive look on her face. A long silence floated between the two until a small ‘beep’ sounded from Peridot’s radar. “Y-you!,” Peridot shouted in disbelief, “you’re the organics experiment, y-you’re the gem I was looking for!”

Petra furrowed her eyebrows, “Wha-

“PERIDOT!”

Petra turned, a little ways back in the trees she could see a group of people running towards them.

“No no no no NO!” Peridot looked around frantically.

“Your friends…” Petra turned back to Peridot, unsure of why she was reacting so negatively.

“There not my friends there my enemies!,” Peridot shrieked.

“Oh…” Petra blushed, embarrassed that she had gotten her facts wrong.

Peridot grabbed Petra’s arm and pulled her to her feet, “We need to leave, NOW!”

“W-wait, what,” Petra stuttered, slightly frightened by Peridot’s sudden change in attitude.

“We can talk later you just need to come with me!,” Peridot started pulling the girl behind her.

“Petra!”

Petra heard Steven’s voice and turned her head, “S-Steven?”

“Don’t worry s’more buddy, we’ll save you,” Steven shouted.

Petra turned back around and tried to pull her arm out of Peridot’s grasp. “What are you doing!? We need to leave,” Peridot shouted angrily.

Before Petra could refuse Garnet burst through the bushes grabbing her other arm and pulling her out of Peridot’s grasp. “Steven, take her!,” she shouted.

Both Garnet and Peridot raised their arms. Peridot was quicker on the draw and blasted Garnet away with an explosion of green light sending her hurdling into a nearby tree.

“Petra!,” Steven ran up to her an grabbed her hand, “come with me, we need to get you out of here.”


	3. Pressed Pennies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the short chapter, hope to have a longer one next time.  
> P.S. Not sure if anyone's interested but if you'd like me to post a picture of Petra (just so you guys can get the gist of what she looks like) in the next chapter send me a message.

Steven held tight to Petra’s hand as he pulled her back towards their camp. Petra stayed silent, unable to completely process everything that had just transpired.

Steven glanced back, noticing the confused and frightened look plastered over her face. “It’s alright, my friends can take her,” Steven ensured, slowing down as they approached the clearing where the gem’s tents where set up.

Petra nodded and looked at Steven’s hand that firmly held hers.

“Phew…Alright we made it,” Steven released Petra’s hand, “the gems should be back any minute.”

“Steven…,” Petra choked weakly, her legs where shaking terribly.

“Hey are you alright, maybe you should sit down,” Steven advised, grabbing a nearby pillow and placing it next to Petra, “here, sit on this.”

Petra sat down but it didn’t seem to help, her head hurt and her vision was starting to fade.

“Petra!,” Steven panicked as he friend fell back. Frantically he looked around for anything that might help.

“Steven what’s the matter?” Pearl shouted worriedly as she ran into the camp.

“P-Petra,” Steven cried.

Pearl looked at the girl, “oh dear.” She quickly dismissed her weapon and sat next to the girl, lifting up her wrist trying feeling her pulse. A perplexed look crossed over Pearl’s face as she felt the girls arm; quickly she held up Petra’s other arm and felt her pulse.

Steven looked over Pearl’s shoulder, “is she ok?”

Pearl blinked, “Y-yes, she’s fine Steven look,” Pearl pointed to Petra’s chest, “she breathing.” Pearl quickly stood up and walked over to the cooler to retrieve a cool water bottle.

“Did you guys catch Peridot?,” Steven asked.

Pearl signed, “no…she got away again, Amethyst and Garnet are trying to see if they can catch up to her but Peridot was going pretty fast.”

Pearl walked back over to Petra and sat next to her placing the water bottle against her head, “I swear it’s like she took an energy drink or something…”

Steven sat on the other side of Petra, a worried look on his face, “You don’t think Peridot hurt her, do you?”

Pearl shook her head, “no I think she just got a little overwhelmed, that’s all.”

Steven nodded slowly, “Pearl.”

“Yes Steven?”

“I think we should call dad.”

* * *

Greg slowly pulled up to the small town gift shop/café Pearl had asked him to meet at. Garnet was leaning against the wall outside next to all of their supplies; he assumed everyone else must be inside.

“H-hey Garnet, how’d everything go…?” Greg asked as he exited the van.

Garnet shrugged, “could have gone better.”

Greg nodded, deciding not to press his luck.

Walking inside he saw Steven, Pearl, Amethyst, and…someone else all seated at a table near the corner of the shop.

“Dad!,” Steven jumped off his seat and ran to give his father a hug.

“Hey buddy, how was the camping trip?,” Greg smiled, hugging Steven back.

“It was great, I made a new friend and Amethyst ate a pinecone and Peridot got away ….” Steven listed energetically.

“Good, good, who’s you new friend?” Greg asked, assuming it was the girl sitting with Peal and Amethyst.

“Oh, her names Petra,” Steven informed, pulling his dad over to the table to meet introduce her, “Petra this is my dad.”

Greg looked at Petra, who was looking at him with a rather bewildered look on her face and a mouth full of cake.

“Oh…hi there, Petra was it?,” Greg smiled.

Petra gave a small nod and waved shyly.

“She’ll be accompanying us back to Beach City, she seems to have pertinent information to our mission,” Pearl explained.

“Oh… I see, is she staying with you guys?” Greg asked.

“Well duh,” Amethyst confirmed.

“Isn’t it great dad! It’s gonna be like, a super sleep over,” Steven exclaimed

“Yah,” Greg smiled, “I guess you’re right.”

* * *

 

After Steven, Amethyst and Petra finished their desserts; Greg took Steven to look at all the souvenirs with Petra while the rest of the gems headed outside to load up Greg’s van.

“What makes you think she knows anything about Peridot?,” Amethyst questioned Pearl as they lifted a box of blankets into the trunk.

“Well, Peridot was trying to kidnap her,” Pearl stated.

Amethyst shrugged, “fair enough.”

“Even if she doesn’t have information theirs a good chance that Peridot might come looking for her,” Garnet added from on top of the van.

“I'm just curious to know what Peridot wants with a human of all things,” Pearl mumbled, mostly to herself.

“Guys look what I got,” Steven shouted as he ran over to show them the souvenir he chose.

“Oh Steven, what did you choose?,” Pearl gushed.

“It’s a pressed penny, I got one for all of you,” Steven held up more for the gems, each of the trio took a penny and admired them.

“Oh Steven it’s wonderful,” Pearl gasped, hers had an acorn on it.

“It’s great,” Garnet stated, flashing a small smile, hers had a clover pressed into it.

“Cool, how’d you get rid of the guy’s face though?” Amethyst asked, hers had a maple leaf.

“They have this cool machine that squishes the picture into it,” Steven explained.

“It’s pretty cool,” Greg added, “only costed a quarter and a penny too.”

Amethyst glanced at Petra, she was looking at something in her hand, “What’d you get?”

“O-oh,” Petra looked up surprised, “it’s a lady bug.” Petra held up a small glass lady bug for Amethyst to see.

“Cute,” Amethyst grinned; Petra blushed lightly at the compliment.

“Alright gang let’s get his show on the road we got a long ways ahead of us,” Greg clapped his hands.

Everyone nodded in agreement and piled into the van, Garnet opting to sit on top. It was already mid-afternoon; the team wouldn’t be getting back to Beach City until later that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. Not sure if anyone's interested but if you'd like me to post a picture of Petra (just so you guys can get the gist of what she looks like) in the next chapter send me a message.


	4. Broken Ice

Petra sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eye, what an odd couple of days she had had. Standing up, she stretched; her joints ached from sitting in the Greg’s van all day yesterday.

Petra looking up, wondering if Steven was awake yet. Climbing onto the couch she peered over the loft that was Steven’s room, she could hear him snoring.

“Mmmm…,” Petra glanced towards the alcove near the back of the small beach house where the strange door that the gems had disappeared in last night loomed. She sat down, hanging her legs over the edge of the couch, deciding it would be best to wait for Steven to wake up. Still…curiosity urged her to go take a peek at that odd circular platform near the door.

Swinging her legs gently back and forth she couldn’t help but glance at the warp pad. After a long internal debate, curiosity finally got the best of her. Quickly Petra stood up and approached the warp pad, listening closely for any sign of the other gems. Squatting down next to the platform she cautiously set her hand on top of it. The warp pad was extremely smooth and very cold, almost like a block of ice.

“Cool…” Petra muttered, sliding her hand over it.

Suddenly the door in front of her started to glow; Petra let out a small yelp and darted back to the couch. Quickly she laid down and pulled the quilt Steven lent her over her head, desperately hoping that no one had seen that she was awake.

“Ugh, Pearl I don’t need to clean my room I like it how it is,” Amethyst groaned.

“Amethyst, your room is a pig’s sty, I don’t know how you can live in that mess,” Pearl chastised.

“Well maybe because it’s not your room,” Amethyst spat.

Pearl groaned, “Eventually that mess is going to spill out into the house or even worse, into my room.”

“Surreee,” Amethyst rolled her eyes.

“Oh really?” Pearl picked a piece of cloth up from the floor, “how do you explain this then.”

“Easy, it’s not mine,” Amethyst stated.

“Who else could it be then?” Pearl crossed her arms.

“I don’t know, ask Steven,” Amethyst shrugged as she headed towards the kitchen.

Pearl mumbled angrily and folded the cloth neatly setting it down on the counter.

“Yo Steven wake up, see if your friend wants something to eat or something,” Amethyst shouted as she looked through the fridge.

“Amethyst quiet your voice, she’s still sleeping too,” Pearl hissed.

“Phfff,” Amethyst scoffed, grabbing a loaf of banana bread.

Petra heard Steven yawn as he walked down the stairs to the living room, “good morning guys.”

“Good morning Steven, did you sleep well?” Pearl smiled.

“Yah,” Steven mumbled, “I missed my bed.”

Pearl nodded, “I bet, could you do us a favor and wake your friend up for us please?”

“Oh, yah sure,” Petra could hear Steven walking over towards the couch. “Hey Petra, it’s morning,” Steven gently shook her shoulder, “Pearl’s gonna make breakfast and I can show you around Beach City afterwards.”

Petra sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes, pretending like she hadn’t been awake the entire time. She looked at Steven and smiled, “u-uh good morning.”

Steven, however, didn’t reply back, he just stared at her with a strange look.

“Steven…,” Petra looked up at the other gems, who were giving her and equally strange look. Petra suddenly felt a painful lump form in her throat, had she said something wrong?

“You…you…,” Pearl’s stuttered.

Amethyst could only stare wide-eyed.

“You’re a gem!?” Steven cried excitedly.

A sudden fear gripped her, Petra raised a hand to her left eye, the cloth had fallen off.

“A-a-ah…” Petra held a trembling hand over the left side of her face, panic overtook her, she ran for the door.

“Wait, Petra where are you going?,” Steven called out to her. Pearl and Amethyst could only watch as Petra threw the front door open running directly into Garnet.

Garnet stood silent, looking down at the ousted girl. Petra shot up an ran towards the door to the temple.

Amethyst managed to get out of her state of shock and summoned her whip.

Steven saw this and quickly tried to deescalate the situation, “guys wait let’s just all calm down.” It was too late though, Amethyst slung her whip, just managing to catch Petra’s ankle.

Petra let out a frightened cry and fell forward onto the cold surface of the warp pad, kicking her leg furiously trying to detach herself from Amethyst’s whip.

“Someone grab her before she gets away,” Amethyst cried. Both Pearl and Garnet summoned their weapons and ran towards the girl.

Petra watched as the gems swiftly surrounded her, she closed her eye. Suddenly a pillar of white light engulfed her, Petra opened her eye, she was floating.

However, as quickly as the sensation had come it was gone. Petra stood up shakily; she had somehow managed to end up in the center a large meadow.

Hesitantly she stepped off the warp pad, the grass around her was so tall it towered over her by at least a foot and a half. An odd ‘ping’ sound went off behind her; the warp pad had lit up.

Petra darted into the grass, not even trying to take note of where she was going. She could hear a distressed Steven calling for her in the distance, but she didn’t dare stop.

* * *

Eventually, Steven’s voiced faded until it could no longer be heard and Petra stopped running. She had no idea where she had ended up, the grass was too tall for her to see over it and the there weren’t any distinguishable landmarks.

A feeling of shame washed over Petra, she felt the left side of her face. Cold hard stone greeted her hand, she hated it. ‘Where was she gonna go now? She should have never left the forest to begin with, this was all a bad idea,’ she thought. Unraveling the her the red scarf from her neck she tied it around the left of her face taking extra steps to make sure it was tied tightly.

With a sigh Petra started walking forwards, a small swarm of butterflies trailed behind her. ‘What was this gem they were all talking about? Why was she one? Was it her face?,’ she didn’t know, she just wanted to go home.

* * *

 

 

     

[ **Image Note:** Welp...here it is, I apologize ahead of time for my lack of drawing skills. I had to color it in pretty fast since I had to meet a deadline for school (T ^ T) but hopefully it's enough for you to get an idea of what Petra looks like and again sorry for this horrendously short chapter. I also included a picture of actual petrified wood if that helps at all. ----- **P.S.** if the images aren't working or if it's just not showing up let me know and I'll see what I can do.]


	5. Deep-Sea Depression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait on a new chapter, school has been a little bit hectic (a lotta bit). I'm not super-happy about how this chapter turned out so I might change it a little in the future. Hope it's alright though.

“This is Peridot reporting on organics experiment, it seems that the experiment has progressed much further than anticipated and has already gained sentience. Efforts to secure experiment were a failure due to those stupid crystal clods, and the experiment’s location was lost. Steps to locate and secure experiment are being taken…,” Peridot closed her report and restored her hand back to its normal function. She was angry and extremely frustrated, but at least now she had a clear objective.

Her best bet on finding the organics experiment was in the old gem tech left on earth thousands of years ago. However, using the warp pads was a risk (she had found out the hard way) and the possibility of her getting captured only grew every time she encountered the crystal gems. For Peridot, though, the risk was worth it, this experiment was everything. If she could actually manage to get the experiment safely back to Homeworld she could only imagine the reward.

Still, aside from the missing organics experiment there was another glaring problem that Peridot needed to tackle, Jasper and Lapis. She wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to the two after their ship crashed but she did know that the crystal gems were also looking for them, which meant they must still be alive somewhere.

The solution was the same, Peridot needed to create a way to discreetly track and locate the missing gems. Only problem was getting the supplies.

Upon arriving at the old gem space ships Peridot dashed inside the nearest ship to avoid any immediate contact with the crystal gems. She waited, listening for the tell-tale sound of a warp pad being activated but it never came.

“Hmm….,” Peridot decided she had some time, not much, but maybe enough to get what she needed. Quickly she pulled up her monitor and started scanning; all of this gem tech was ancient as far as she was concerned, so much in fact that it was hard for her to discern what was what. She couldn’t fathom how the inhabitant of this planet could live so…primitively.

* * *

 

Steven warped to the temple, angry tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “Why did you do that!,” Steven shouted.

“S-Steven…,” Pearl tried to interject hesitantly, she wasn’t used to him yelling.

“Every time we meet a new gem all you guy want to do is attack them!,” Steven yelled angrily.

“Steven, we didn’t know her intentions, for all we know she could have been working for Peridot,” Garnet explained.

“But we didn’t know that, we didn’t even give her a chance. She was nice, she…she was our friend,” Steven croaked, a lump had formed in his throat. He rubbed his eyes trying not to let his tears show. Garnet bit her lip, loosening the hold she had on his shoulder.

“Dude, what if she was trying to get into the temple? Maybe she was just being nice so we’d let her in there,” Amethyst added.

“And maybe she wasn’t! We didn’t know that since we didn’t give her a chance! Maybe the reason all these gems keep attacking us is because we keep attacking them!” Steven cried.

No one spoke; the tears had finally spilled from Stevens eyes. Angrily he ran out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Garnet sighed, “Steven might be right about this one…”

Amethyst and Pearl looked at Garnet in shock.

“We’ve become too accustom to conflict as our first course of action, look at what happened with Lapis. Look at how we treated her and yet she still sacrificed herself to help Steven,” Garnet crossed her arms, gritting her teeth.

Pearl wrung her hands in nervous thought. Both her and Amethyst had guilty looks.

“Well…what do we do now? I doubt Petra is going to come back on her own…yah know…after all that,” Amethyst questioned tentatively.

“All we can do is hope that we find her before Peridot does,” Garnet stated, looking towards the front door, “but right now we need to apologize to Steven.”

* * *

 

A long while had passed since the incident at Steven’s house and over the course of Petra’s wandering the meadow had changed drastically. The flowers had slowly become sparse and wilted, the ground became dark and even the sky seemed to take on a dirty tinge. Though hesitant, she kept going, unsure of where else she could go but forward.

Gradually, an odd sound began to make itself more present. Petra listened closely, it sounded like something crashing over and over much like a waterfall but with more power behind it. It wasn’t long until Petra found herself on the edge of a cliff, in front of her lay miles and miles of water with no foreseeable end.

Petra’s eye was wide in amazement; she had never seen the ocean like this before. Last night she had only seen a glimpse of the ocean from Steven’s porch, but this was something completely new. Throwing all common sense aside she felt the need to get closer.

Petra sat down, a small wave of paranoia passed over her; she looked over her shoulder, making sure no one was around. Still, the feeling lingered as she pulled her boots and single glove off. Petra looked at her stony left hand, its visible ball joints and segmented fingers made her cringe. Her right leg wasn’t much of an improvement, Petra was sure if Steven had seen her like this he would have been frightened.

Quickly, Petra stuffed her glove in a pocket and tied the laces of her boots together before throwing them over her shoulder. She approached the edge of the cliff and leaned over to get a better look, “mmm…,” a narrow beach wedged itself against the jagged rocks.

Petra lowering herself onto her stomach, slowly inching her way over the ledge until her foot found a place to lodge itself into. Within minutes Petra was nimbly making her way down the face of the cliff, her hand and foot changing their shape accordingly with every small foot or hand hold that presented itself to her.

As soon as her foot hit the coarse sand Petra dislodged herself from the wall, landing quite ungracefully on her bottom. Bouncing back up Petra gawked at the huge mass of water front of her, it was amazing.

However, as Petra looked out at the dark churning waters, something deep inside of her told her to take cation. Something was off, something wasn’t right about the way this felt.

Petra noticed herself becoming nauseous, was this how the ocean made everyone feel? She couldn’t help but consider climbing back up the cliff.

After a bit of debate Petra decided to hold off on retreat for a while in order to look for something of interest or useful. Unfortunately, the beach was small and rocky; the only thing interesting Petra found was a small colony of crabs and muscles.

Put off and a little frustrated Petra picked up a smooth pebble and sat on one of the few dry rocks. Pulling her left arm back she flung the rock across the water, somehow getting it to skip five times despite the rough water.

Petra sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes; the ocean mist was making her cold. She wished she could have stayed with Steven longer, she wanted to see what it was like to be outside the forest, she wanted to make s’more again and she wanted to see this ‘Beach City’ he talked so fondly about…

A loud sound interrupted her train of thought; Petra opened her eye and looked out towards the ocean. About fifty yards out from where she was large bubbles started could be seen rupturing on the surface of the water. Petra stood up, trying to get a better look at whatever it was making them.

Without warning a large hand burst from the surface, Petra fell back staring in both shock and horror. A head of white hair erupted from the depth, a terrifying roar shook the ground, small rocks fell from overhead.

The beast seemed to be fighting against chains of water, pulling towards the shore in hopes of freedom. Slowly, Malachite made her way towards the cliff, an immense amount of desperation could be seen in her eyes. Malachite’s face lagged and her features became less clear, the two gems inside were fighting fiercely against one another for control

A large hand slammed down next to the rock that Petra was sitting on, sending sand flying in all directions. Petra closed her eye, holding her arms in front of herself defensively.

A few seconds pasted and no further movements or sounds could be heard. Slowly, Petra opened her eye, the beast had vanished.

Standing up shakily Petra looked all around, not a sign of the unstable gem remained. Petra looked down at the giant hand print in the sand, just to make sure she hadn’t imagined it all.

Something glinted in the sun; Petra jumped down from her rock and approached the objects warily, two perfectly cut gemstones lay peacefully in the hand-shaped crater. Carefully she picked up the two stones, wondering how they had ended up in there.

Deciding that this was neither the time nor place to ponder the significance of these rocks, Petra quickly scurried over to the wall of the cliff.

She made her way swiftly up the wall, taking time once she made it to the top to put her glove and boots back on. Petra took a curious look back at the ocean, for some reason it seemed a bit lighter than it did before. Shrugging off the thought Petra held up the two gems she had procured, at least she got something out of that whole ordeal.


	6. A Large Rock

Peridot let out a frustrated cry and threw the device she had been working on to the floor. Nothing worked. Nothing. She had tried every configuration possible and nothing worked. She had spent two weeks desperately trying to create a tracking device with no results what so ever.

Letting out another irritated cry Peridot kicked the useless hunk of metal against a wall, causing it to completely shatter. Anger quickly switched to panic upon watching the pieces fall to the floor; Peridot grasped her hair trying to hold in the tears that were now building in her eyes.

"It's pointless, all of it. I'm going to die here, shattered into a million pieces," this time Peridot screamed, letting out the months of built of emotions. Peridot fell to her knees, shaking, pulling on her hair so hard that it hurt. There was no way out of this. All she could do now was sit there and wait for the cluster to emerge. She was doomed to a fate of either being shattered or cracked to the point of no return, unable to do anything like the Lazuli...

Peridot’s head shot up, "That's it!" Jumping to her feet Peridot ran clumsily out of the old gem space ship she had been working in. Without a second thought she scrambled over to the warp pad, this was her last hope.

 

* * *

 

A cold breeze swept through the tall grass, causing Petra to shiver. For days she had been trekking fruitlessly through the grassy meadow and it seemed like no matter what direction she went in it always led to the same thing; more grass.

With a frustrated groan Petra sat down, she was so tired...and strangely hungry. Usually, she did just fine with water and sunlight but recent events had caused her to put out more energy than she could make. "What I would give to sleep on that 'couch' again," Petra mumbled as she lay back against the grass, at least it was sorta soft... Closing her eye Petra reached down into her pocket and shook the two gems stones she had found a couple of days ago. Oddly, she enjoyed the clicky sound they made.

Slowly, Petra began to relax listening to the sound of the rocks and the occasional rustle of breeze blowing through grass and was eventually able to doze off. Not aware that one of the gemstones had slide out of her pocket or that she had rolled over onto it.

 

* * *

 

Petra jumped as something suddenly jolted her back to consciousness. Her good eye now wide open she laid still, staring dead ahead, trying to figure out what had awoken her so violently. Maybe a strong gust of wind? Had she rolled onto a large rock or something?

Sitting up she rubbed her eye, mind still processing a bit slow from her unplanned nap. Yawning, Petra stood up letting out a surprised gasp. "I can see over the grass!" Petra rejoiced , jumping up and down excitedly.

Petra's excitement, however, was short-lived as she quickly became aware of something grabbing hold of her left ankle. Looking down Petra let out a loud yelp, losing her balance and falling off the large rock she was standing on. Jumping back up Petra could only stare in shocked silence at what she had been standing on; a person, and not just a normal person, but a giant person.

The grip on Petra's leg started to become painfully tight as the giant person seemed to be coming to. "I swear....if you don't stop...I will... break you in half...and then I'll....break those halves...in half" a raspy voice warned menacingly between labored breaths.

"A-ah..." Petra, now trembling, frantically tried to pull her leg out of the giants grasp. The giant, however, only strengthened its grip causing Petra to cry out in pain, "L-let go!"

"I said...," the giant growled angrily, slowly rising to its feet slowly, "STOP!" The giant yanked Petra off her feet, holding her upside down by her left ankle. Petra screamed, both in pain and terror as she was staring directly into a pair of bright, almost glowing yellow eyes .

"Who...," the large gem squinted at the right side of Petra's face, "...what are you?" Jasper questioned darkly.

Petra slapped a hand over her right eye, realizing that her scarf had fallen off while she was upside down. Frantically, Petra reached down to try and grab it but, it was tauntingly just out of her reach.

Annoyed, Jasper raised her even higher giving her a forceful shake, "answer my question!"

"I.... I don't know" Petra was now trying to turn her face away from the eyes of the giant.

Jasper grit her teeth and grabbed hold of the small girl’s chin, forcing her to stare directly into her eyes. "Where are we?"

"I-i don't know," Petra stammered, tears now welling in her eyes.

Jasper, very close to losing her temper, tighten the hold she hand on Petra's chin, "who do you work for?"

"No...no one?" Petra answered, confused by the question.

With an aggravated scowl Jasper let go of the girl's ankle and let her fall to the ground. 'Fabulous’ thought Jasper, closing her eyes and putting a hand to her head. She had a real headache, something she’d only had a few times throughout her existence and only ever after being destabilized. ‘It must be because-....’

Jasper's eyes snapped open, frantically she looked around, her heart rate speeding up drastically. "Lazuli, you piece of shit, show yourself!" Jasper shouted, sounding almost scared. Turning to the small girl, who was now trying to scramble away into the grass Jasper grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her up.

"Where," Jaspers hands her shaking, her voice was frantic, "where is she, where's that little blue piece of shit."

"W-who," Petra stammered, frightened by the giant's sudden change in demeanor.

"Tell me!" Jasper shook the girl violently, "she has to be close by, tell me where she is! Tell me!"

At this point Petra was sobbing,"I-i don't k-know who you're t-talking about, y-you're the only person I've seen in d-days"

While Petra’s words didn’t much calm her down it pushed out of her blind panic allowing her to think, 'maybe Lapis was shot somewhere else when we unfused...which would explain why I ended up here...with this...' Jasper look back at Petra who was now hiding her face in her scarf, sobbing and suffering from a sever bout of whiplash. With a scowl Jasper lowered Petra to the ground but did not release her grip from her shirt. "How long was I unconscious," Jasper questioned, trying to keep her tone somewhat civil.

Petra shook her head, refusing to lift her face from the scarf.

"Aren’t you useful..." Jasper grumbled. Looking around at the surrounding area she could tell it was nowhere near where the Crystal Gem's base was located. Jasper groaned, ‘maybe this could be a good thing?’

Anxiety creeped back into Jasper, while Lapis wasn’t around now she was bound to be nearby and while Jasper would absolutely love to bash her into a million pieces there was no way she was going to risk being pulled back into that hell scape she called an ocean. Right now all Jasper needed to do was get as far away from this place as possible, it was pretty dark but Jasper could see a small clearing a couple of miles away in the distance.

Deciding that it was her best bet at getting her bearings straight she started to walk towards it, almost forgetting that she had ahold of Petra. Stopping Jasper looked down at the small gem, who was now standing defeated in Jasper’s gasp, scarf completely wrapped around her face; it was a shameful display in Jasper’s opinion. She was obviously a gem of sorts what kind, however, Jasper had no clue but she might be useful to getting off the planet... At the very least she could throw her at Lapis if she ever decided to make an appearance.

“Either take that thing off your face and walk or I’ll make you,” Jasper spat at Petra. The small gem made no move to abide by the larger gem’s orders. Jasper let out an annoyed groan, “I swear, everything on this planet it completely worthless...hell, even my own crew is worthless.” Jasper thought back on that little green runt that had gotten her into this situation to beginning with, ‘if I ever see that little piece of shit again I’m going to kick her ass into the next galaxy and back.’

Fed up with waiting, Jasper grabbed Petra by her arm and threw her over her shoulder, earning a terrified cry from the smaller gem. “Just...just be quiet and I’ll let you keep that rag on your head...” Jasper sighed, putting a hand on her own head before she began walking towards the clearing again. The headache had come back with a powerful vengeance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Steven Universe has returned to us with a newer cuter and more compact Peridot for your travel sized needs and I can keep this story some-what on track with the show.


	7. Out of Shape

It had been five days since Peridot's capture, five insufferable days (at least in her mind). However, Peridot didn't see the outcome as a total loss. Steven, though Peridot would never verbally admit it, did manage to win a small portion of her trust and in doing so learn a bit of information.

"So your saying that Petra...she's...not a gem?" Steven asked, slightly confused by Peridot's explanation.

"Not exactly," Peridot tilted her head, "she's a hybrid, a mixture of both organic and gem materials."

"Oh...so...sort of like me, right?" Steven questioned hopefully.

"Yes, not exactly the same mix of organic and gem materials, but yes," Peridot confirmed with a quick nod.

Steven jumped up off the bathroom floor, "this is great!" he shouted, excited at the idea of having another person sharing a similar experience to him.

"Yes...well, I wouldn't usually disclose such sensitive information if it wasn't of the utmost importance," Peridot continued, "Since 'Petra' is partially organic she requires some amount of up-keep, like you, and while she was bred to be some-what self-sufficient in maintaining the organic half of herself I haven’t done enough analyze to see if she’s actually capable of it...."

"Huh?" again Steven had gotten lost in Peridot's elaborate explanation.

Peridot sighed, "What I’m trying to say is, Petra might not last long seeing as she's apparently out in the middle of nowhere with no reasonable forms of sustan-"

"Petra's in trouble!" Steven cut in, slapping the hands to his cheek in shock, "we have to tell the gems! We have to go looking for her right now!" Steven started towards the bathroom door.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Peridot quickly hopped up and ran in front of the boy, "it has to be us two that find her."

"But...but Garnet's super good at this kind of stuff and Amethy-" Steven tried to explain.

"No!" Peridot shouted, "It’s just you and me or I’m not sharing any more information, which includes any information about the Cluster."

Steven sighed, "...Ok, if you say so. But if we're going to leave, we need to leave at night when the gems are in the temple."

Peridot grinned ear to ear and clenched her fists, "Yes! I'll prepare what I can from in here, you do what you can out there and we'll start looking for her tonight."

Steven nodded with an excited smile and put his hand up in the air whispering, "Super-Secret Team"

Peridot gave him a quizzical look, "what are you doing...?"

"You’re supposed to hit my hand and say Super-Secret Team" Steven explained.

"Oh..." Peridot reached up and lightly touched his hand, “Super.... Super-Secret Team."

Steven tried to suppress a giggle when a knock came from the door, it was Pearl.

"Is everything alright in there Steven?"

"Yah" Steven quickly opened the door and slid out of the bathroom, "Peridot just had some questions about the mirror."

"Oh..." Pearl looked at the door, "...well I guess that's alright, did she tell you anything about the 'Cluster'...or maybe even...Petra by any chance?"

"Oh...no," Steven shuffled his feet nervously.

"Hm...I see, well, I just want to let you know that we're all working hard to find her so don't worry, Ok?" Pearl assured.

"Y-you betcha," Steven gave an awkward smile, "I...I'm going to go...clean my room now! Bye!" Steven quickly darted away, afraid he would somehow give away his plan.

“O-oh, ok," Pearl watched as Steven ran towards the stairs and glanced at the bathroom door. She couldn't shake the guilty feelings she and the other gems had been harboring lately, first Lapis then Petra...It seemed like they were doing more harm than good at this point.

* * *

 

Jasper leaned against a small tree that grew in the center of the clearing, already she was exhausted and with only walking a few miles. "Damn that blue piece of shit..." Jasper cursed, breathing slightly labored, her energy was going to need some more time to build back up. More time than she willing to give.

Petra was seated near Jasper's feet, back against the tree, knees hugged against her chest with her head down. She was focused on the tree behind her, wondering if maybe she could wrap one of its roots around the large woman's leg when she fell asleep...but decided that she didn't want to leave the poor tree to have to deal with that in the morning when the giant woke up.

Jasper let out a groan and sat down next to Petra, leaning her back against the tree as well. Usually Jasper wouldn't ever show this type of weakness in front of anyone but she was honestly so drained that she couldn't bring herself to care. Neither of them spoke for a long while, they just sat there in complete silence until the crickets started to play.

"Will you," Jasper took a deep breath, trying to suppress her ever present temper, " Will you please take that thing off your head so I can talk with someone other than that fuck face Lapis for once in eight months."

Petra jumped, she thought maybe the larger woman had fallen asleep, possibly allowing her a chance to escape but as she glanced towards Jasper she could see the glow of yellow eye looking at her through the thin fabric of the scarf. Feeling she really didn't have that much of a choice in the matter Petra turned her head in such a way that she could look at Jasper with her good eye while the other half of her face was still covered by the scarf.

"Good enough," Jasper shrugged, "now tell me what the hell those sounds are."

"Huh..." Petra furrowed her eyebrow, wondering what sounds she was talking about.

"You know..." Jasper waved a hand back and fourth towards the felid of grass, "those sounds."

"T-the...the crickets?" Petra offered, not too sure if that was the sound the larger woman was referring too.

"Crickets..." Jasper repeated to herself before falling into another long paused, "where are we?"

Petra hesitated, unsure if her answer would anger the woman or not, "I-I...I don't know."

"Then...how'd you get here?" Jasper questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I-I'm...not sure," Petra almost whispered her answer, feeling certain that it would anger the woman.

"Hmm..." Jasper replied, closing her eyes. She was absolutely exhausted but she knew if she fell asleep the smaller gem would surely take off.

"W-what's your n-name," Petra stuttered, now feeling uncomfortable by the gem's sudden silence not knowing if the larger woman was planning something.

Jasper opened her eyes again, a bit surprised that the small gem had voluntarily asked her something, "Jasper" she replied, lightly tapping on her nose as if to prove it.

Jasper expected the smaller gem to return the favor by telling her what type of gem she was but all she got was silence. A bit annoyed Jasper threw a harsh glance at the small gem but was surprised to see her staring intensely at her nose.

"What..." Jasper suddenly became a bit worried; did she have a crack in it? Could that be the reason she was so exhausted? Quickly she felt her nose to see if there were any faults in its surface, there were none as far as she could tell. "What the hell are you staring at!?" Jasper shouted, temper slowly rising.

"I-I just I," Petra faltered on her words, "Y-you have it...on your face t-too... stone...I mean"

"Yah, what about it?" Jasper spat, unsure of what the smaller gem was getting at.

Petra slowly lifted her head up, allowing the scarf to stay on her knees, "I-is it bad?"

"Is it bad?" Jasper repeated in confusion. She stared at the girl with a puzzled look, trying to figure out what she was blabbering about. "Do...do you not know what you are?" Jasper asked, finally coming to a conclusion.

Petra didn't reply, she wasn't sure how to answer.

"You're a gem, " Jasper was now certain the girl had no clue.

"Gem..." Petra touched the right side of her face, 'this must be it then' she thought 'everyone keeps calling me one so that must be it why...' Petra quickly looked up at Jasper "a-are you a gem?"

"Yah...like I said," Jasper tapped on her nose again, "Jasper."

"Jasper..." Petra nodded, mulling over this new information before looking back up at Jasper "What...what am I?"

"Oh...well...what do people call you...?" Jasper offered, not really sure if she could answer that question.

"Petra"

'Petra? Never heard of that type of gem before' Jasper thought. "Well then...I guess you're this 'Petra' that people call you" Jasper confirmed, watching as the small gem seemed to start leaking from her only open eye, "Uhh...you got a little something..."

Petra hid her face in the scarf again but this time see was out of fear, she finally knew what she was and it wasn't a “witch” or a “ghost” or even a “monster.” She was a “gem.”

Jasper watched with a blank look as Petra seemed to smile into her scarf. Jasper tried to think of why she was so clueless on the fact that she was a gem, 'maybe...she emerged in kindergarten late...' Jasper shrugged, she was tried and didn't feel like thinking deeply on anything right now. Leaning back against the tree again she closed her eyes, making sure to keep an ear out in case Petra decided to try and escape. 'I'm just going to rest my eyes is all...' Jasper thought.

* * *

 

Steven slowly tipped toed down the stairs, making sure to hop over the creaky step at the bottom. Quietly, he made his way to the door which he had so smartly propped open with Master of Ceremonies Bear Bear in order to avoid the excessively loud screech it made every time anyone tried to open it.

Sneaking his way out the door Steven made his way down the porch stairs to where Lion and Peridot were waiting. Peridot looked thoroughly uncomfortable standing near Lion; however, Lion was perfectly content as the remains of a Lion Licker wrapper lay lifelessly on the ground.

"Good boy," Steven whispered scratching Lion’s chin as he pushed his cheese burger backpack into Lion's mane.

“Steven, are you sure this....thing...can help us find the organics- I mean Petra?” Peridot whispered, giving a wary glance at Lion.

“Of course,” he assured, climbing onto Lion’s back. Steven then leaned over and held a hand out to Peridot, “we have to hurry before someone notices us though.”

Peridot nodded and took Steven’s hand. Once situated Steven pulled a cloth out of his pocket and held it in front of Lion’s nose, “we need to find the owner of this, please.”

Lion sniffed the cloth for a few seconds before sniffing the air.

“What’s he doing?” Peridot asked, slightly fascinated by the large animal’s movements.

“Oh, he’s sniffing for clues so-,” before Steven could finish his sentence Lion let out a loud roar and took off into the resulting portal along with a screaming Peridot.


	8. 5 More Minutes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing like college exams to get you to dig up a story you haven't written on in forever.

Peridot was screaming, Steven was laughing, Lion was staring blankly into the abyss. The event lasted only seconds before Lion came to his usual skidding stop.

Peridot scrambled to get to solid ground while Steven calmly slid off. “T-that was, that doesn’t, their species shouldn’t have the capability to warp,” Peridot yelled, half in anger half in amazement as she pointed an accusing finger at Lion.

Lion pawed absentmindedly at a line of ants on the ground, paying no attention to Peridot’s confusion. 

“He was my mom’s lion,” Steven explained as he rummaged around in hamburger backpack, “he’s got all kinds of cool tricks he can do.”

Peridot held a finger up as if to argue about the logistics of an organic being, being able to create a tear in time and space but was quickly silenced when Steven held a cylindrical device out to her. She eyed the device suspiciously before cautiously taking hold of it, “what…is this?”

“Flashlight,” Steven answered.

“A…flashlight?” Peridot questioned as she fiddled with the device, “what purpose could something like this possibly ser-AH!”

Peridot dropped the flashlight as she slapped her hand over her face, she had switched it on while pointing it directly at her eyes. Steven laughed and picked up the flashlight, “it’s so we can see where we’re going,” he pointed the flashlight towards the direction of the warp pad, “see.”

Squinting Peridot puffed her chest out importantly, crossing her arms, “of course,” she stated, “it’s probably best you operate the device as I-uh-I don’t require the use of such primitive technology in order to see.”

Steven smiled, “well…if you say so,” he started walking into the tall grass.

“H-hey wait,” Peridot squeaked as she scrambled to catch up with him.

 

* * *

 

Jasper sat bolt upright, a look of utter bewilderment splayed across her face. A cold sweat covered every inch of her body, she was shaking.

“W-what…” she looked around frantically; a moment passed before she remembered where she was. A moment more passed before she remembered who she was with, or at least who she was supposed to be with.

“Petra!” Jasper jumped to her feet. The small gem was nowhere in sight, Jasper couldn’t believe she had dropped her guard like that. The only non-hostile being she had seen in almost 8 months had vanished. This planet was starting to weight on her, she knew it. Before she could walk away from the tree she heard something like a snore come from behind her, Jasper looked up.

Petra had apparently climbed up the tree, wedged herself between two branches and fallen asleep. A small group of butterflies had apparently settled on top of her head.

“Hey!” Jasper tugged on one of Petra’s dangling legs.

“Hmm…” Petra lifted her head only slightly, her one good eye barely open. The small group of butterflies flew off.

“Rise and shine, we’re leaving,” Jasper stated gruffly, resting one her hands on her hip.

Petra sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eye. The sun hadn’t even risen yet, the world was still coated in a hazy blue.

“We’re leaving,” Jasper stated again, a bit more annoyance coated her voice.

Petra didn’t argue, she was too tired. She slid down from between the two branches she had been sleeping on. Her legs felt like they were made of jelly and her head was pounding. Why couldn’t they wait till the sun actually came out?

“Let’s go,” Jasper turned and started walking, no more distractions.

For miles Jasper walked through the long grass, every now and again glancing back to make sure Petra was still following her. It seemed like each time she looked back the gem got a little be further away. Jasper was leaving a well-defined path in her wake so she didn’t understand why Petra was having such a hard time keeping up, she was a gem for Diamond’s sake.

“Hey, speed it up! There should be a warp pad coming up in the next couple of miles,” Jasper shouted. Petra was now, at least, 50 yards behind her and getting slower. Jasper could feel her temper rising and turned to stomp back over the smaller gem.

“You’re going to need to start walking faster than this,” Jasper grabbed the girl by her wrist.

In protest Petra groaned and sat down, she was so tired. It seemed as if she didn’t even have enough energy to feel threatened by Jasper’s formidable grasp on her wrist.  

“I-I can’t, there’s no sunlight or water, n-no anything” Petra whined, almost cried.

Jasper let out a frustrated growl and yanked the Petra back up and threw her over her shoulder, “this is ridiculous! Having to carry another gem!” Jasper turned and started stomping back towards the warp pad, “I mean! What gem needs sunlight? Water? Let me tell you about how much ‘good’ water does for you.”

Petra didn’t argue, honestly how could she? She was so tired. Jasper barely made it another mile before she was peacefully snoring behind Jasper’s back. Jasper continued to quietly rant to herself while she walked.

It didn’t take much longer to get to the warp pad now that Petra wasn’t lagging behind. As she arrived she noticed a large number of different prints in the dirt around the warp pad, Jasper shrugged it off. There was no telling what lived out here.

Without another thought, Jasper stepped onto the warp pad and disappeared with Petra in an instant.

  

* * *

 

A small ping rung out. Steven turned to Peridot, “did you hear something.”

Peridot shook her head, she was deeply engrossed in the map that Steven had found in the library of the area.

“Hm,” Steven tapped his chin, “Lion did you hear anything?” He turned to look at his fuzzy friend.

Lion yawned.

“Must have been my imagination.”

 

* * *

 

Peta opened her eyes and blinked, immediately bringing a hand up to shield her eyes, the sun was blazing hot above her.

“Where am I…” she asked, not expecting an answer.

“Old gem battlefield,” a voice answered.

Petra quickly sat up, surprised by the voice. Jasper was sitting beside her fiddling with a pile of weapons.

“W-what” Petra stared concernedly at the large axe in Jasper’s hand.

Jasper glace over at Petra’s frightened face an smirked throwing the axe down so that it impaled itself in the ground, “you said you needed sunlight right? Well, here ya’ go. Maybe now we can actually make some progress.”

Petra looked around in awe, there were weapons of all shapes and sizes strewn about as if some massive battle had just taken place. Surrounding these weapons were ungodly amounts of strawberry bushes, more than Petra had ever seen in her entire life.

“W-what happened here,” Petra asked, standing up slowly to get a better look around.

“The battle to end all battles…” Jasper replied, a distant look shown in her eyes. She looked a bit sad.

Petra stood in silence for a second, watching the emotions that crossed the larger gem’s face. It was odd seeing someone so terrifying look so vulnerable.

Jasper caught Petra staring and quickly stood up. She grabbed the handle of the axe and ripped it back out of the ground, “Let’s go.”

“O-oh ok,” Petra scrambled to catch up.

 


End file.
